On March 23, Stephen Griles, former Deputy Secretary of the Interior during Gale Norton's tenure, pleaded guilty to providing misleading information to Senate investigators about his relationship with Jack Abramoff.

Now, Italia Federici, Griles former girlfriend who "co-founded CREA, a conservative-leaning environmental-advocacy group, in 1997 with Gale Norton, who became secretary of the Interior Department in 2001" has received a target letter.CREA stands for Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy,

“The investigation is focused on the allegedly illegal manner in which you operated the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy,” wrote Stephanie Evans, a trial attorney in the department’s Tax Division.

Griles acknowledged at the time of his plea,

... that because of his romantic relationship with Federici, he “gave Abramoff more credibility as a lobbyist” and “distinguished him from other lobbyists.”

Federici is under investigation for potentially violating five statutes: